Protest Sexual Harassment of Employees at PepsiCo Poland

Posted to the IUF website 24-Jan-2005

Share this article.



Our affiliate the Food Secretariat of NSZZ "Solidarnosc" has informed us of serious allegations of sexual harassment of employees by a supervisor at the PepsiCo snack food plant (Frito-Lay) located at Grodzisk Mazowiecki near Warsaw, Poland.

Some 100 women work as packers on the night shift, with three male supervisors. Women have been reportedly called into the night shift supervisor's office over the last two years and sexually abused under threat of dismissal if they reported the incidents. Towards the end of last year, some of the women who had suffered from sexual harassment began to discuss the situation among themselves.

On 29 December 2004, the night shift supervisor and HR manager called in at least eight women one by one and threatened them with disciplinary dismissal unless they resigned. Five of them signed prepared letters of voluntary resignation under threat of discharge. Two other female employees and the husband of one of these women also were fired or resigned under threat.

On 3 January 2005, eight of these women filed charges of sexual harassment. Three women (Beata, Dorota, Grazyna) declared to the Labor Court that they themselves had been harassed, while the other five supported their charges. Beata was dismissed because of "unexcused absences" while Dorota and Grazyna were forced to "agree" to resign (to avoid a disciplinary dismissal that would mean inability to get another job). One of the women fired for "poor work" had only several weeks previously been publicly commended for her excellent work performance.

On 7 January 2005, the food secretariat of NSZZ "Solidarnosc" met with management to present these charges. The company would agree only to evaluate them, but not to reinstate the workers. The supervisor in question was granted a leave.

The company's reaction to date has been to fire the victims rather than investigate the supervisor's alleged misconduct. By failing to take appropriate measures to protect its employees against sexual harassment, PepsiCo is seriously infringing European and Polish legislation, as well as the human rights of its employees.

In a letter to PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Steven Reinemund the IUF demanded that the company immediately investigate the charges and take appropriate action. As a minimal first step to begin to remedy the situation, we demanded the immediate reinstatement with full pay and benefits of all the workers dismissed or forced to resign because of their efforts to oppose sexual harassment at the Grodzisk Mazowiecki Frito-Lay factory.

PepsiCo's own "Worldwide Code of Conduct" commits itself to "providing a workplace free from all forms of discrimination, including sexual and other forms of harassment."

It also contains a section that promises that the individuals who report ethical misconduct at PepsiCo should be protected, and that any PepsiCo official who retaliates against employees exercising their rights should be subject to discipline by the company and even criminal charges. The PepsiCo Code is available in 40 different languages, including English at

www.pepsico.com/citizenship/coc/index.shtml

The most relevant pages are:

www.pepsico.com/citizenship/coc/english/pg4.shtml
and
www.pepsico.com/citizenship/coc/english/pg14.shtml

PepsiCo's code provides for a free telephone number that can be called without charge from anywhere in the world to report on violations Numbers for this "PepsiCo Speak Up Hotline" are 1-866 729 4888 (USA and Canada) and 1-770 810 2637 (rest of the world). Calls to this hotline would be an excellent supplement to protest letters sent to the PepsiCo CEO.

To send a protest message of your own to the company click here. Copies will be automatically sent to the union, to the Polish Minister of Labour and to the IUF secretariat.

We thank you in advance for your solidarity and support.